NEW ORLEANS – At an Oct. 16 event, the Greater New Orleans Foundation announced the winners of its $1.2 million Next 100 Years Challenge, in celebration of its centennial year.
The challenge is a regional competition designed to inspire and attract plans for community-centered and cost-effective infrastructure improvements, including nature-based solutions, in 13 parishes of southeast Louisiana that will address the threat of storms and other disasters.
The foundation awarded $100,000 to 10 collaborative teams that it believes demonstrate potential to secure additional infrastructure dollars from the State of Louisiana, federal government and other funders. The foundation awarded $40,000 to an additional five project teams. With this addition, the foundation has invested a total of $1.2 million in the region.
Parishes include Assumption, Jefferson, Lafourche, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Terrebonne and Washington.
“We could not think of a better way to celebrate our centennial year than investing in the future of our region,” said Andy Kopplin, president and CEO of the Greater New Orleans Foundation. “The regional representation reflected in these winning applicants is a clear sign of a collective commitment to building a stronger, more resilient, more equitable, and more sustainable Greater New Orleans region in the decades ahead. The Greater New Orleans Foundation has been around for 100 years, and we are committed to creating a better Southeast Louisiana for us all for generations to come.”
Winners of the Next 100 Years Challenge and the mission of their corresponding projects are (in alphabetical order):
- City of Gretna – Creating a Healthy and Resilient Transition for Infrastructure and Neighborhood Growth: CHARTING McDonoghville’s Future
- Committee for a Better New Orleans – Resilient Community-Designed Bus Stop Shelters
- Friends of Lafitte Greenway – Greenway Flow Neighborhood Resilience Project
- Jefferson Parish Ecosystem and Coastal Management – Community Oasis at Ree Alario Special Needs Center & Miley Playground
- Sankofa Community Development Corporation – Sankofa Climate Resilience Project
- Sông Community Development Corporation – Resilient Algiers – Hung Dao Gardens Stormwater Retention
- St. John the Baptist Parish – A Multi-Scale Green Infrastructure Strategy for St. John Parish
- Terrebonne Economic Development Authority – Terrebonne Parish Nature & Recreation Conservatory
- United Houma Nation, Inc. – Hazard Mitigation and Tribal Resilience Hubs
- YMCA of Greater New Orleans – Resilient Wastewater Systems for Plaquemines Parish
Runners up of the Next 100 Years Challenge are (in alphabetical order):
- City of Westwego – Regenerative Westwego: A Blueprint for Small Town Adaptation and Equity
- Healthy Gulf – New Orleans East Community Water Plan: Visioning Resilience
- Restore or Retreat, Inc – Bayou Ferblanc Marsh Creation and Roadside Resiliency Enhancement Project
- St. Bernard Economic Development Foundation – Resilient St. Bernard
- Water Wise Gulf South – Scaling-Up Community-Led Nature Based Solutions in New Orleans
GNOF said winning challenge proposals presented “sustainable, community-centered, cost-effective projects that protect against and reduce the risks from disasters and natural hazards in communities located in the 13 southeast Louisiana parishes.” The foundation team encouraged infrastructure plans at varying stages of development and offered technical assistance to help applicants prepare for the competition.
The nonprofit said winning projects demonstrated community buy-in, commitment from local leadership, projected impact, and a wide range of benefits to under-resourced, disadvantaged populations.
Project teams will use their grant awards from the Next 100 Years Challenge, funded through the foundation’s Disaster Response and Restoration Fund, to refine their plans and help ensure their proposals are competitive for further investment. The foundation’s technical assistance team will continue to support winning teams as they turn the funding awarded by the foundation into successful applications that can secure tens of millions in federal and state infrastructure dollars.
